Dumb Dogs, Magic Time Machines, and Great Budget Bills

I’ve been talking about my Honesty Agenda for budget transparency for a few months now, and I’ve got a pretty big announcement about it coming up.

But first, I just have to share a picture.

It’s a shot I took with my phone of our two ridiculous bulldogs, one who’s out-lived her breed by several years, and one who’s very young.

They’re pulling on the two ends of the same rope. They growl and pull with all they’ve got, but ultimately it’s just mindless pulling and growling. Nothing substantive really being done.

Yeah, it’s a metaphor for the political parties and our political system. But don’t spend too much time contemplating it. You’ll go as crazy as them.

Other games we can play

Okay, now let’s have some more fun. Let’s jump in my magic time machine and go all the way back to . . . September 2010. Tell me whether, since that time, at any point in the process, we’ve really been able to know what’s going on with the state’s finances.

Then, right around (coincidence!) Election Day, there were rumblings that things were about to get bad. Talk of a $15 billion budget gap turned to rumors that it might hit $25 billion. And those in control still didn’t clarify the speculation with any real numbers.

Finally, the session rolled around, and we were given numbers that spelled out a $27 billion budget shortfall between money we have and the cost of providing current services and maintaining schools, care for seniors, and other basic necessities for Texans.

That shortfall was realized in a draft budget that unnerved the state as much as anything I’ve seen in a while. For anyone who cares about students, or seniors, or safety, it was a jarring view of what political rhetoric can look like in action.

Still playing games

Those in control of the process – the folks who were present at just about every step of the drafting of the draft budget – are no longer treating it like it’s a legitimate document.

Now, we’re told, there will be more revenue, we just don’t know how much. There will be fewer cuts, too, they say; but we still don’t have a target for how much money will need to be restored to keep Texans from losing the necessities they rely on.

So, lacking answers, we’re left with the same uncertainty that’s defined this issue for months. We’ve been subjected to the same fun and games that cause Texans to criticize the budget process for not being open and transparent and for failing to tell the public how our money is spent.

But rest assured, at some point, we’ll see a proposed resolution to this budget crisis. And as I wrote last week, I suspect many folks will declare “victory,” if only because it will look so much better than the horror show we’ve watched over the last month.

I hope they’re right. I honestly hope it’s as good as those folks will probably say it is. I hope the pain it dispenses is slight and its victims are few. I hope the budget writers – who are now about as close to Sine Die (when they’re supposed to be done with the budget) as they are to Election Day (when there wasn’t even a political point in denying what we’re facing) – figure things out in the time that’s left and produce a budget that really is good for Texas.

In short, I really do hope they swoop in and save the day.

Saving the day

But, just for the record, here’s what “Saving the Day” has to look like:

“Saving the Day” should mean solving the root problems of these deficits and putting Texas on a path where we won’t be going through this trauma again in two or four years.

“Saving the Day” should mean avoiding short-sighted budget actions that weaken our people and Texas’ ability to compete economically.

And “Saving the Day” should mean instituting fundamental reforms that will make government transparent, hold those responsible for it accountable, and put the state’s finances on the side of the middle class.

It should mean putting protections in place to ensure that this budget crisis never happens again.

And I’m betting you know I believe that it starts with the Honesty Agenda.

My Honesty Agenda

Today, I am filing more than a dozen bills and a proposed constitutional amendment to open information about the budget – and to pass power over it – to Texans.

This reform agenda will rebuild trust with Texans by giving them an unprecedented look into the state’s books. It will modernize government, allowing legislators and voters to have faith in the decisions that will decide Texas’ fate in the 21st Century. And it will enlist a team of outsiders – folks with real experience in business and other areas – to put the state on a path to sustainably balancing our budget and investing in things we know we’ll need.

It will address both the fiscal deficit and the honesty deficit.

These reforms are absolutely essential to addressing this budget crisis. For too many years, the budget has incorporated a toxic mix of debt, diversions and deception. I simply don’t believe our state would be in this position if Texans had better information – and the ability to get better information – about how their money is raised and spent. The Honesty Agenda would assure that those in control conduct the affairs of state in a more professionally managed way.